“We will see diseases get cured at an unprecedented rate … And what this will do to the ability to deliver very high quality health care (…) but really to cure the diseases at a rapid, rapid rate. I think it will be among the most important things this technology does“
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international organization based in Geneva that was founded in 1971. Every year, leading figures from politics, business, science and society gather in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss global challenges and future issues. The declared aim of the WEF is to improve the state of the world through dialog and cooperation.
This year, discussions focused on artificial intelligence. Technological advances and their impact on various areas of life were discussed in detail by renowned experts and leading CEOs.
The announcement of the “Stargate” project, which came from the White House just one day before the Davos meeting, was particularly explosive. This ambitious program provides for investments of 500 billion US dollars to establish the USA strategically as the world's leading nation in the field of AI.
As part of the “Stargate” project, significant partnerships were forged, including with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Larry Ellison, co-founder and CTO of Oracle, and Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank. These figures played a central role in the strategic plans presented at a high-level meeting at the White House.
In his speech, Sam Altman emphasized the revolutionary potential of AI in healthcare. He spoke of a future in which diseases could be cured at a previously unthinkable speed. The use of AI-supported technologies could accelerate medical progress, which would ultimately contribute to a significant improvement in global health.
Larry Ellison, on the other hand, described a vision in which AI and robotics transform cancer diagnosis and treatment. Blood tests will soon be developed that can detect cancer at a very early stage and provide customized vaccinations within 48 hours. This combination of innovative technologies could fundamentally change medical practice.
Softbank fund investor Masayoshi Son was convinced that the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is imminent. In his remarks, he went one step further and spoke of the imminent emergence of an artificial superintelligence that could be able to solve problems that were previously considered unsolvable. This vision emphasizes the transformative power of AI and opens up new perspectives for overcoming fundamental challenges facing humanity.
The announcement of the “Stargate” project set the scene for the subsequent discussions in Davos. The interplay between politics, business and science illustrates how crucial international cooperation is for the future of AI. At the same time, the diverse approaches and visions of the players emphasize that progress requires not only technological innovation, but also social responsibility.
The Davos-Meeting
“Two to three years until AI systems are better than humans at almost everything... then eventually better than all humans at everything," (...). How do we organize our economy? How do humans find meaning? There are a lot of assumptions we made when humans were the most intelligent species on the planet that are going to be invalidated with the help of AI“
The leaders of the most important AI companies met in Davos. Surprisingly clear statements were made about the near future of artificial intelligence. The fact that AGI is within reach and that superintelligence will arrive by 2027 at the latest, probably even earlier, was shared by all but Google Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis, who estimates a time span of 3-5 years, although it should always be borne in mind that there is no uniform definition for AGI and ASI. So let's take a look at what has been announced.
Yoshua Bengio, one of the leading minds in AI research, painted a vivid picture of the current development of modern AI systems. He emphatically referred to their growing independence, which manifests itself in “very strong self-behavior and self-preserving behavior”. The fact that these systems are now trying to replicate themselves is particularly worrying. Bengio warned that the consequences of this dynamic could be serious if we fail to understand and control the underlying mechanisms. These developments, he continued, are a direct result of systems mimicking human behavior and increasingly acting as actors in their own right.
Alexander Wang, CEO of Scale AI, focused on the technological infrastructure that enables progress in AI. He emphasized that the company DeepSeek has an impressive number of NVIDIA H100 processors, around 50,000. At the same time, he pointed out the challenges involved, as US export controls make it difficult to discuss such technologies publicly. Wang's comments illustrate the geopolitical tensions and regulatory challenges associated with the development and use of advanced AI infrastructure.
Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, ventured a glimpse into the future and predicted that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could become a reality within the next three to five years. Hassabis described AGI as a form of AI that could not only replicate human creativity, but also conduct research independently. Unlike today's models, AGI would be able to generate new scientific knowledge instead of merely validating existing data. This prospect brings the question of the role of humans in future research processes to the fore and underlines the need to develop ethical guidelines for dealing with this technology.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, was also asked about the latest developments in the field of AI. When asked about Elon Musk's investment in “Project Stargate”, he responded with a laconic remark: “All I know is that I'm good for my 80 billion dollars.” This statement illustrates not only the enormous financial resources that are flowing into AI projects, but also the great confidence that leading technology companies have in the transformative power of AI.
Kevin Weil, Head of Product at OpenAI, commented on the possibility that Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) - a form of AI that would be superior to human intelligence in all areas - could become a reality before 2027. This assessment underlines the rapid pace at which research is progressing and makes it clear that societies need to prepare for fundamental changes.
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, went one step further. He predicted that within the next two to three years, AI systems could surpass humans in almost all areas and eventually be superior in everything. This prospect raises fundamental questions, such as the organization of our economy or how humans find meaning in a world in which humans are no longer the most intelligent species. Amodei also estimates that around 30 percent of all jobs could be fully automated by AI in the near future - a figure that highlights the potential for social upheaval.
Artificial intelligence seems to be entering a new phase. Even though the positive aspects continue to outweigh the challenges it poses, the metaphor of a “Pandora's box” cannot be avoided. AI is here, AGI is within reach and superintelligence is only a few years away. This will undoubtedly bring with it serious social disruptions, as Dario Amodei emphasizes. The question is how we can make social protection possible.
In any case, Davos was entirely focused on AI this year. And the release of DeepSeek r1 shortly thereafter proved unanimously how right this focus was.
